Police sources say YouTuber Dhruv Rathee was picked up from the address of his house in Gurugram’s Sector 56 ahead of the planned protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Saturday.
Around 50 Delhi Police personnel went to the house of Rathee in the morning and arrested him, reports said. Rathee himself had tweeted a video of himself announcing his participation in the demonstration on his X account late into the night on Friday.
The planned protest was against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar The demonstration led to mention of a rise in security measures in the national capital.
The CJP called for immediate release of Rathee after they got word of his arrest.
CJP Founder Abhijeet Dipke Detained on Flight
Meanwhile, Delhi police arrested the founder of CJP, Abhijeet Dipke, when he landed at Indore airport from Pune on Saturday morning. Other than that, the party leaders Sourav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were also reportedly arrested.
Dipke has posted a video on Instagram of the passengers and party members leaving an aircraft while Police personnel were coming on board. The video showed an interaction between Dipke and the officers in which the CJP head asks how officers could have waited until the group was out of the plane before taking action.
Dipke had come all the way from Mumbai to deliver the party’s forthcoming protest rally at Jantar Mantar.
Security tightened before Jantar Mantar protest
The detentions, which were reported, were happening in preparation for CJP’s proposed protest against the Chief Election Commissioner. The party had said it would stage protest actions about the electoral processes.
The police crackdown on Rathee and the CJP members garnered attention in advance of the event. But other information about legal grounds for the reported detentions and whether those detained were detained allowed was not immediately available.
The events occurred during the preparations for the demonstration and security measures in New Delhi heighten ahead of the event.